We set sail yesterday from Honduras with excitement
for the journey ahead. Our weather window looks good – southeast winds of
15 to 20 knots for the next few days. We’re excited, as we
always are before an offshore voyage. But we’re melancholy,
too. This is a momentous voyage for us, because we’re headed
home to the United States, away from the islands and seclusions
of the southwest Caribbean, and toward the hustle and bustle of
what life holds in store for us next. We’re energized, but
filled with uncertainty, too. This journey of a few days will give
Douglas and me a chance to transition between the two worlds, to
talk about the future, to write, to ponder, to enjoy the passing
seascape.

We’ve collected a few of your emails and letters, and this
voyage seems a perfect time for us to think about your questions,
and to answer a few of them. We’ve also received some sage
technical advice, and share that with you here as well. As always,
thanks for staying in touch, and for letting us know what you think
about our column. We look forward to hearing more of your questions,
and to seeing you soon!

From A Budding Cruiser

A woman named Emily wrote to us in Cartagena
telling us that she and her husband have decided to go cruising,
and that they hope to find work along the way – perhaps
doing sail repair, computer and electronics repair, diesel engine
work, bartending, or making jewelry. She asked how difficult this
is in the places Douglas and I have traveled.

Earning money along the way while youre cruising, especially in the Third World, is a taxing challenge.

FROM BERNADETTE: Unfortunately, Emily, it’s pretty difficult
to earn enough money out here to pay for your cruising expenses.
In the western Caribbean, you’ll be cruising in countries
where local people earn a fraction of what US citizens earn at home.

Bartending could work here and there, depending
on where you go, but most countries will require a work permit. Diesel engine
repair work is a great option, as is computer and electronics repair,
if you are an experienced professional in those fields. Sail repair
and canvas work are great skills; of course you’ll have
to bring your own industrial machine, as well as all the needed
supplies. Normally, I think you're looking at about $20 an hour
for that. Perhaps $35 an hour for engine or electronics work.

Some cruisers, with a gift for sewing, can make a nice side
income from sail repair. But you need to have all your own
equipment and many supplies aboard.

No work permits are needed for this cruiser-to-cruiser
work. There may indeed be some steady work in those three technical
areas, especially if you’re spending time in one of the places cruisers congregate
during hurricane season, such as Cartagena, or the Rio Dulce. That
said, out “in the field,” most people do their own repairs,
or help each other out free of charge.

Making beaded jewelry doesn't work as a high-profit
cottage industry. Many local people make beaded jewelry in all
these countries, and you can't compete against their prices;
plus, many cruising women do beading as a creative hobby.

Beading in more a hobby than a way to earn money while youre
cruising.

The bottom line on earning money while you’re out cruising
is this: Before you leave, you should have enough saved up to cover
yourself living modestly for the time you plan to be out. Then,
if opportunity presents itself, stop cruising for a while in an
interesting place and work for six months or so, and build up your
savings again. If you set out without enough money to cover your
expenses (you can live on $1,000 a month, but that’s AFTER
your boat is paid for, AFTER you’ve stocked it with enough
spare parts for every system), AFTER you’ve paid for boat
and health insurance, AFTER you’ve purchased any air tickets
for visits home. To cruise on that thin a margin means you’ll
be under constant pressure to watch every penny. It can be done,
and we know people who are keeping their costs that low, but it
remains a taxing challenge, with little room for contingencies.

SAN BLAS CHARTS AND GUIDES

Ron L., from Port Aransas, Texas, wrote to us asking about whether
we use electronic or paper charts for the San Blas, and which guidebooks
we recommend.

FROM DOUGLAS: The paper charts for the San Blas
(26065 and 26063) are good. The electronic charts from Maxsea
seem to be the best. The ones that Maptech and Nobeltec provide
for this area are mediocre at best. Several times with the charts
up on the screen we’ve “seen
ourselves” tacking over major islands. To rely on electronic
charts, especially at night, is a recipe for disaster. We’ve
seen too many hulls on too many reefs, and we don’t think
it’s wise to take such chances.

The guidebook that most people have relied on in the San Blas,
with confidence and pleasure, is The Panama Guide by Nancy
Schwalbe Zydler and Tom Zydler. In addition to spot-on drawings,
superb directions, and precise instructions, this is a rare specimen,
a genuinely soulful guidebook that respects the local traditions
and yet understands the wants and needs of cruisers. Thoughtfully
written, I’d follow the Zydlers anywhere. In fact, we have.
If Tom and Nancy suggest you steer a course of 226 Degrees true,
it’s likely not going to be 222 or 229. These people know
their stuff and for years cruised the San Blas in their engineless-sailboat.
The one shortcoming is that this book doesn’t have a carefully
laced lat-long grid over the hand-drawn chartlets. We’d all
like that, but no one complains much because the information is
so precise.

The Zydlers cruising guide to Panama is indispensable.

There’s a second guidebook as well, recently
published and gaining in popularity: The Panama Cruising Guide by
Eric Bauhaus. It has superb lat long. Bauhaus has put together
a technically tight, accurate, and very useful book. He writes
that he’s
crossed the Panama Canal 51 times, knows Panama intimately and suggests
some anchorages in the San Blas that we’d never heard of,
seen, or read about. Having both these books is well worth the investment.
Like the Tin Man, though, what the Bauhaus guide lacks is heart.
The discussions of the Kuna at least, for whom I feel a special
affection, is superficial. But I sure like his waypoints. It makes
good sense to carry both books.

SOLENOIDS AND BOLTS AND SCREWS, OH MY!

FROM DOUGLAS: Bernadette and I have a friend
named Walt who writes to us from time to time with technical advice,
based on what he reads in our columns. He’s a totally practical and wildly
imaginative man who never saw a technical problem he couldn’t
fix. He’s also a talented writer, and his repair strategies
are frequently poetic in their creativity. Being responsible for
all maintenance at a large, 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week factory
in the Midwest, he also understands pressure. Walt is kindly in
his communications to me, clearly amused as I stumble through the
mechanical machinations. Like a gentle grandfather encouraging a
four-year-old, he walks me slowly through whatever it is he feels
I need to know more about. Walt read what I’d written about
using a screwdriver to get enough spark on a solenoid to start our
diesel, and responded with lots of useful advice, plus the following
comments about solenoids and starter repair. Here was his initial
comment: “It’s neat to see how you go about learning
something new. I mean the concept of reading a manual before you
tear into something is positively radical in the male world.”

FROM WALT, ON STARTERS AND SOLENOIDS: “The
starter and solenoid on any engine offer some unique problems. Be
really careful when you tighten the wire lugs on the starter, the
solenoid or the start relay. Most of these components are now made
with an insulating plastic material that is a great insulator but
offers little mechanical strength. The plastic will crack if you
over-tighten the nut that holds the wire lugs. The bolt is just
molded into the plastic body and will spin or move when over-tightened.
Many times you don't even know it happened. But that crack allows
moisture in and all hell will break loose sometime down the road.
I never put my hand on the end of the wrench that is away from the
nut when I tighten these puppies. I make sure my index finger is
over the bolt so I’m
really limited as to how much torque I can apply.

The solenoid attached to Ithakas starter

“You can diagnose a lot of starter and solenoid problems
with a small hammer. Yeah, I know. It sounds pretty Neanderthal.
But the main thing to know about these components is that because
they are basically sealed up tight there’s no place for dirt
or contamination to escape. But, you ask, if they’re sealed,
where can any dirt or contamination come from? Great question. A
solenoid moves back and forth, so eventually something is going
to wear out. That dust/dirt has no place to go. A starter has carbon
brushes that help convert the electric power into a mechanical rotating
force. But the carbon brushes wear out over time. The carbon dust
from the brushes has no place to go in a sealed starter.

“Here's where the small hammer comes in.
As a solenoid wears out, the mechanical parts can sometimes jam
up because of the dirt inside. A tap with a hammer may loosen
the component enough that it'll allow the mechanical parts to
move and the engine to start.

“A starter is even worse. The carbon dust
lies around the carbon brushes. The brushes have a spring that
pushes them against the shaft of the starter. When the dust gets
in the way the brush can't slide in its holder and contact the
shaft anymore. You lose the ability to transfer electricity. Again,
a tap with a hammer often will jar the brush enough that it makes
contact again. If this ever works for you, consider yourself really
lucky and replace the component as soon as possible.

Vista at Tegucigalpa by Joe Antonio Velasquez of Honduras

“The starter brushes are the primary culprits in starter
trouble. They can be replaced. It's a pain to do it, but in a big
pinch you can tear down the starter and replace the brushes if you
have something similar on hand. You can actually buy spare brushes
for most starters if you look hard enough. There aren't really that
many different brush makers in the world. If you find brushes that
fit in the holder you can make them work. But don't be drinking
when you’re trying to put it back together. It’s frustrating
to rebuild them, and more than one starter has found itself launched
in a fit of rage. My personal record is around 38 feet.”

(FROM DOUGLAS: When I whined about broken bolts
in one of our “Log
Of Ithaka” installments, Walt sent the following useful comments.)

MORE ADVICE FROM WALT: “All standard bolts should have some
raised lines on top of the bolt head. If there are no lines you
can assume it's a softie. Avoid them for all but the simplest jobs.
Never use them in applications where they thread into aluminum,
or if they’re exposed to a lot of heat.

Ithaka sets out from Honduras

“The more raised lines on the bolt, the
harder the bolt. But here's where it gets stupid. The number of
lines on the bolt does not correspond directly to the grade. You
would think one line would equal a Grade-1 bolt, and that eight
lines would indicate a Grade-8. HAH! I think three lines on the
bolt head indicate a Grade-5 bolt and six lines indicate a Grade-8.
You may even come across one with 8 or 9 lines -- I think that
indicates a Grade-12. Just remember, it's not my system.

“The harder bolts bring several things
to the table that the softies can't. One being that with bolts,
as well as in the life of any red-blooded male, harder is better.
I'll leave it at that.

Aboard Ithaka we have a complete selection of metric and
standard wrenches, and we use all of them.

“Harder bolts can take being torqued down
tighter -- such as when a seal doesn't fit exactly right. Sometimes
squeezing that little sucker just a little bit tighter is needed.
Harder bolts have greater shear strength. Really hard bolts can
transmit so much torque that, for instance, if your prop was hitting
hard on a rock or some other submerged menace, and something has
to give, it may not be the bolt. The force could travel further
up the assembly to a potentially weaker member.

“What I really like about hard bolts is
their tendency to just snap off cleanly. When things go wrong,
soft bolts tend to smear -- there just isn't a better word to
describe it. If you over-torque them, they can smear. If they
are exposed to heat while under tension, they can smear. If a
huge, overloading pull, twist, or vibration occurs, they can smear.
The steel has so much flexibility that the bolt can shift around
in the female threads when loaded. Bolt threads need a certain
amount of clearance to spin and the smearing of the soft bolt
takes up all the clearance, making it much more difficult to extract
it.

Douglas with the catch of the day, the reward for all that
nitty-gritty maintenance work

“When I say hard bolts tend to snap it's because that’s
the sound they usually make when they break. These bolts are hard
enough that they’ll usually resist whatever load is present
until they reach the breaking point. Not much flexing goes on. They
just snap off. The thread clearance isn't disturbed and life is
much easier when it's time to dig out the broken stub. Of course
it doesn’t happen perfectly like I’m describing every
time, but more often than not a hard bolt will be easier to remove.

“Grade-8 bolts are common in every bolt
supply store and at many of the farm-implement dealers. The selection
will be limited at the tractor-supply store but it's a place to
try. The absolutely easiest way to get a Grade-8 equal is to buy
Allen-head bolts. The marking won't be so easy to understand on
Allen bolts but it really isn't that big a deal. These bolts have
to be hard because if they aren't the Allen wrench will tear up
the head of the bolt. Remember: harder is better.”

Girl Talk

We got an email from Patricia in North Carolina
recently. She wrote: “When you’re out cruising, where do you get personal
things done, like getting your hair cut, and stuff like that? My
fiancé really wants me to go cruising with him, but I’m
new at this boating thing, and frankly I can’t imagine living
away from modern conveniences.”

FROM BERNADETTE: I’ve received the same question from at
least five different women over the past couple of years. Patricia,
you won’t believe how easy it is to take care of all your
personal needs once you go cruising. First of all, you’ll
become more comfortable being a bit more natural. Your hair will
be up most of the time, because it’s hot, so you won’t
need as many haircuts. If your hair is short, you’ll get it
cut when the opportunity presents itself. For instance, you’ll
come across another cruising woman, who was a hairdresser in her
previous life, and she will cut it for you, and it will be the best
haircut you’ve ever had. (Lots of women out here are very
good at cutting, highlighting, and all that, and word gets around.
Just keep a private stash of your own “materials” on
board.)

The outdoor life is not a pampered one, but the rewards
far outweigh the inconveniences.

Or, perhaps you’ll arrive in a town, and to your surprise
it will have a little one-chair “beauty shop” and the
woman will do a great job. Or she won’t do a great job. But
so what! It’ll grow out. Or, you’ll arrive in a place
like Cartagena, and you’ll go crazy pampering yourself at
one of the dozens of terrific salons, all at a small fraction of
the cost at home. In short, every month or two, you’ll find
a place to take care of business, and you’ll be treated like
a queen.

One day, while I was schlepping my bags of precious
fresh vegetables through the dusty little town of San Pedro, Belize,
I saw a sign in the window of a hardware store that said “I Wax De Leggs.” Stunned,
I took a sharp turn and entered, so desperate was I. It would have
been a hysterically funny scene, if it had been happening to someone
else, but it was happening to me, so it wasn’t that amusing
really, except in retrospect. She was a big woman, a very big woman,
and she had me sit in wood chair, put my leg in her lap, and she
proceeded to slather this wax on, which had been heated in a cooking
pan, and then she ripped off the wax, all the while saying in her
Belizean accent, “Ohhhhh lady, this one, she’s gonna
hurt.” Ohhhhhh, she was right, but we got the job done.

In Guatemala City, I stumbled upon the most incredible salon,
and had my hair cut, highlighted, and then blown dry by three Guatemalan
women with hairdryers. As they each stretched a great wad of hair
out on a round brush, and blew it dry, I watched in the mirror,
and realized I looked like a human may pole. They did a terrific
job and the whole experience cost about $18. On the island of San
Andres, Colombia, at a beautiful spa on one of the main streets,
I got a one-and-a-half hour Swedish massage and then a facial. The
experience was luxurious, took all afternoon, and cost $20, including
a tip.

Douglas gets a haircut at the nearest Sandy Salon.

Mostly, though, the truth is that these experiences
are not the norm. In terms of personal grooming, things get a
little more… let’s
say, basic when you’re cruising. Every month or so
I’ll give Douglas a haircut on the beach. When I’m finished,
I’ll put my head upside-down, brush my hair out, grab it all
in my fist, and cut an inch or so off the end to make a few layers – as
instructed by my hairdresser at home. So horrified was she that
I would be away from her professional ministrations every six weeks,
that she sent me off with a lesson on haircutting so specific and
serious that it was as if I were going to perform my own brain surgery.

Douglas says that when all else fails on a boat, there is
an ultimate tool with which to persuade.

All the while, as I trim my hair, and go about
my personal business on the boat, I’ll think of my months
in Cartagena, with its affordable little luxuries, and to a day
in the future when I’ll
find that next great salon somewhere over the horizon. Once you
get out cruising, a transformation occurs. You’ll find that
what becomes more important than the securities of modern conveniences
and salons and restaurants and the trappings of life at home, are
the simpler pleasures of life on the boat, life in a bathing suit,
and anchorages all to yourselves.